No Return
by snowbright
Summary: A mostly OC story centered around a few people in the FAYZ that have to go on living without their precious leader. With Sam and his crew gone, what will befall Perdido Beach? Rated T just in case of bloody details. Set sometime in the middle of Lies.
1. Gone Again

Gone Again: A different perspective and outcome for those in the FAYZ

It was the first meeting of the Council when things started to go south. Mike Paylor, a 15-year-old who had just conquered the poof last week, hadn't expected everything to be resolved, but he _had_ wished at least something would be accomplished. He had been excited for his first Council meeting. After the legendary Sam Temple and his followers had gone off on an expedition to try and find out more about the wall and how far underwater it went in the ocean. A new council had been drawn up, and things had been doing better. People honored Sam, but secretly hoped he would never come back. And he didn't. With the first meeting of the new council, everyone was desperate for further improvement. Instead, things got worse. The council had fought among themselves and disbanded. Organization had failed. It was time for chaos, and Mike was terrified.

"Mikey? Hello?" a girl's voice called tentatively from the threshold of the door. Mike had retreated into an old house that would probably collapse at any second. He felt sick staying in his old home, his own refuge against the world before the FAYZ, and no one could find him here, so he'd thought. For a moment, Mike froze, but he regained his composure in time to stuff himself in the closet. The ancient Purple Heart wood creaked as he closed the little door behind him and held his breath. Even the slightest sound seemed loud, enhanced, deafening, when Mike was fearful for his life. Who knew who the voice could have been? With the FAYZ, all bets were off.

"Mike, I know you're in here. I saw you in the window a second ago," the unidentified voice continued, exasperated. Mike heard the door to the room be shoved open. He tried not to gasp and dug his nails into the palm of his hand in fright. Who was at the door? The closet had no peepholes. It could have been that girl Diana he had heard about, the one who worked for/with Caine. Mike was deathly afraid of Caine. The cruel boy haunted his nightmares and left an echo in his head every morning that wouldn't be displaced until at least noon. It was horrible.

Suddenly, the closet door sprung open, and Mike practically fell out. His body was rigid. He couldn't move. _Is this what a panic attack feels like? _He wondered in his brain. _I can hardly breathe. _It was not a fun experience.

"MIKE! Hello? Are you listening to me? I've been looking for you all over town. You've got to stop running away." As soon as he could operate his neck, Mike raised his head and looked up at the one who had spoken. He realized he had fallen to the ground, and his vision was blurry. Mike reached out a hand for the girl to help him up. If he was still alive, she probably didn't want to kill him.

"There we go..." the girl muttered with a smile, grasping his hand in her own and yanking upwards. Mike was jolted to a standing position, and gradually the blood traveled down from his head. Something pricked him in the arm.

"Ouch," he choked out. This startled him._ I can talk? That's a good sign. _Mike thought to himself_. Maybe I'm not dead yet. Damn it, I'm thirsty, though!_ After another needle-poke in his arm, Mark regained proper senses. He could breathe again. His mind was working properly. He forced out a quick 'thank you' and stabilized himself by resting his hand on the wall.

"Hm? Oh, you're welcome. It's just water, though. In an injection. I thought you hated shots, but whatever. It was better than nothing. Should last you a little while," the girl mused, then looked back at him.

"Mikey? Can you hear me?"

Mike glanced up at her face and almost fell backwards again. As his mind registered a pale face, curly dark blonde hair, greenish-gray eyes, and a concerned expression, there was no doubt in his mind that he knew this girl. It was his only friend since the beginning of the council: Chloe Davis.

"You okay there?" Clearly, Chloe was concerned. Mike nodded.

"I think so. Sorry, I thought you were a predator or something..." he grumbled. She held back a laugh.

"Thanks a lot. Yes, I am clearly a big, scary monster. Rar!" Chloe cried, waving her arms around in the air and mimicking a dinosaur. Mike smiled. It was nice to cheer up for once, but the joke had some sickening subtext. At any moment, a monster really could attack. Anything was possible.

Still, the idea of Chloe as a monster was just too ludicrous to pass up. The girl was tiny, and uncomfortably skinny, which wasn't a good thing. But while the obvious malnutrition wasn't particularly attractive, it wasn't abnormal, either. Everyone in the FAYZ was underweight. They had gotten used to it. 'Average' had been re-defined. So, Mike smiled. He smiled because he needed to smile about something, and any excuse would do, even if it were just a fleeting silly thought.

"You'd make a horrible monster. Anytime you ate someone you'd start apologizing and lose your monstrous reputation," he responded, earning a grin right back from her.

"As if! I'd be all 'NOM, NOM, NOM! RAR!' and they'd be like 'NOOOOO!' and I'd gobble them up all fierce-like. Totally, 100% accurate. Deal with it," Chloe disagreed. _The girl may be quirky and sweet, but she certainly is stubborn... _Mike concluded. It was a fairly correct analysis.

"Mikey? Hello? You spaced out again," Chloe grumbled with a frown, crossing her arms. He looked at her blankly.

"What? Sorry, I wasn't listening."

She dropped her head and gave up.

"I am well aware of that. Ugh, whatever! Persephone and the rest of the Council want t see you outside," Chloe said, leading the way to the door. Mike was not happy about this. He didn't trust Persephone. Persephone was Chloe's elder sister. They looked the same, aside from Persephone's dark hair, but had very different personalities. While Chloe, at her worst, was the most annoying and unreasonable person on the planet, Persephone was just plain evil. She was smart, and she knew it. She confused people for fun.

"No chaos?" he asked, hesitating to follow his friend. She dipped her head and repeated,

"No chaos."

With relief, Mike strolled outside into the dank, gloomy air and prepared to meet his doom, just in case. After all, Persephone was a wild card, and, like many things, Mike Paylor was absolutely terrified of her.


	2. The New Council

_ DISCLAIMER: I would just like to say that I do not own anything relating to the Gone series, Michal Grant and his publisher and such do. I made up OC's and ideas, but they wouldn't be there without the books, of course, so I don't own much. I don't own any of the things I don't own in this chapter in any other chapter or summary or whatever, either. I promise I don't. I really don't. I just don't._

The New Council: Order is difficult to keep when no one is listening to you

"Finally," Persephone, angry and impatient, muttered to no one in particular. Chloe sighed. Did her sister always have to be like this?

"Well, are you going to apologize or what?" the older girl asked, this time to Mike Paylor, a 15-year-old boy who had been hiding from the possibility of chaos reigning. He was a bit of a coward. Still, Chloe didn't like it when her sister lashed out, but she didn't say anything.

"Apologize? For being scared? Sure. I'm sorry for freaking out in a situation where I thought my life was in danger. Completely irrational behavior to you, I'm sure," Mike answered, trying to hide his shame and embarrassment at being called out on a major flaw. Chloe felt sorry for him and changed the subject.

"So, Sephy, have you gotten any new about the Human Crew yet? I thought they'd been causing trouble again." Her sister ignored her.

"Hush, Chloe. And don't call me that. Now, Mike, apologize for real. You fled the scene before we could discuss anything. I know you're only a one-bar freak, but what if some extremist human had gotten you? Then where would we be? We need that guy who doesn't want to take risks on our Council. That's why we elected you in the first place. Get it right!" Persephone ranted. "I am very disappointed in you, Mike. I thought you could do better."

Mike hung his head. Chloe could tell he felt bad. _Poor guy... _she thought. Even though he was older than her by at least six months, he always seemed to be more sensitive. _Maybe it has something to do with his parents fighting so much, and now them being gone..._

Mike's parents had never gotten along. They cared about showing up one another more than about Mike himself. Chloe had seen the arguments. They weren't pretty. His dad would sit there while his mom screamed in a fit of rage, and then explain with a rational explanation why things weren't working for them, and then they'd switch. Mostly, though, it was his dad who ended the arguments by pointing out that they weren't good for their son. Mike and his dad had a lot in common: same chocolate brown hair and eyes, same medium skin, same non-aggressive manor, same gentle temperament. But Mike got his strong emotional reactions from his mother. Chloe knew all this, she had heard it before from others, but she had never really believed it until now.

"Chloe? We're leaving. I know you're not on the New Council, but you'd better come along. We could use another freak if something goes bump in the night," Persephone said, being softer to her sister than she had been before in the conversation.

Chloe was a two-bar. She could communicate animals, especially with the weird, mutated creatures that had come from the initiation of the FAYZ. However, just because she spoke, it didn't mean anyone would listen. It might have been more powerful bar-wise than Mike's, but it was nowhere near as useful. Mike could tell if someone was lying. It wasn't always exactly accurate, but it was the best they had and it was better than nothing. Persephone had no abilities, but she was still a very commanding presence.

"Gather everyone in Perdido Beach, I want to have a meeting. We need to re-discuss Sam's absence. Not everything is going well," Persephone ordered, and a pair of red-headed twins named Ian, a short boy with the ability to attract fish who had taken over for Quinn, and Cammie, a tall, willowy girl who was human but often spoke about wanting to be a freak, darted off to do just that. Persephone beamed. She loved getting her way.

Chloe trailed after the New Council, an awkward fish in a sea full of whales. She knew she didn't belong, but she wouldn't dare stray from the pack. Not now. Not at night.

"Attention, everyone!" Persephone screamed, giving Chloe a scare. She hadn't realized they were in the middle of the meeting already. Almost the whole town was there, and 90% of them were upset. There were so many little problems, little whispers, little secrets. Nobody wanted to go up against Persephone, and yet, none of them liked her either.

"Right now, I don't have to tell you that things suck. We thought it would be worse after Sam and his main followers left, but it was better. We thought things would be better after the first meeting of the New Council, but they got worse. What happened was people not listening to authority, namely, me. I'm a normal, but I'm not prejudice against freaks. My opinions are unbiased. I am not stupid. I am not weak. But people won't listen, because they have all those qualities as well, and they want to be in charge. Let me ask you something. Who is in control here currently? No need to answer, I'll tell you. I am. Now, if you were qualified to be in control, don't you think you would be? Sam's gone. We don't even know if he's coming back. But I'm here. So LISTEN TO ME! I'm trying to help you. I'm trying to help everyone. But I can't. That's why we have the New Council. We thought we could pull it off. We couldn't. We argued, and it broke out into the public. Everyone's upset now. We have representatives on the New Council that YOU voted for. They disappointed you. Do you feel the need to elect new representatives, or will you give them another chance? It's your choice," Persephone explained. She seemed to enjoy making speeches. Mainly, they were to advertise her authority, but they had some useful tidbits mixed in. The crowd roared, and the answer was unidentifiable. Worried she would have to talk, Chloe shrunk behind Mike. She hated public speaking. He noticed her there, chuckled, and whispered,

"How are you two even related?" Chloe shrugged. Sometimes, she wondered that herself.

"People, I cannot decipher your screaming. All in favor of a new New Council, raise your hand. Chloe, get up here and count them," Persephone ordered. Her sister inched out from behind Mike and shuffled up to the make-shift stage, an upturned table, counting the hands. There were many. She couldn't count exactly, but it was more than half. Persephone turned to her, and Chloe nodded. She didn't speak, but her sister did.

"All right, then. We will have a new New Council! Firstly, I would like to give the former members a chance to be voted on," she cried, eyes searching for the members of the old New Council. She spotted Mike.

"MIKE PAYLOR!"

He trotted up to the 'stage' and stood there awkwardly while the people shouted unrecognizable things. Persephone pursed her lips. She was clearly annoyed.

"Raise your arm if you feel his should be kept on the New Council. Chloe, what's the verdict?" she asked as people lifted their arms and giggled. Most of them only liked him because they liked making fun of him. He wasn't a hero to them. He was a comic relief.

Chloe glanced at Persephone, mouthing that Mike would stay. She frowned.

"Well, that' that. I guess he'll do. Next, Lyra Rasputin! She's our representative powerful freak, people! Everyone needs a good hypnotist. But is she a keeper?"

One or two people put their hands up. Nobody loved the idea of someone who could influence the decisions of others on a Council deciding their fate. Chloe didn't even need to count them. Persephone gritted her teeth. Lyra was one of her best friends.

"Fine, then. Ugh. See? I'm not biased! She's off. NEXT! Trystan Garcia," Persephone called out. He was a normal, well-respected, and a very strong kid. He was already 15, but had not poofed. People liked him, and they used their hands to show this appreciation.

"Wonderful!" Persephone said with a smile. She was known to have had a bit of a crush on Trystan before the FAYZ, and the two were still very fond of each-other, but as friends. The next few people came up, were voted off, and walked away. The only members of the former New Council other than Mike and Trystan were two girls named Victoria Lee, a popular normal, and Graceland Hughes, a very kindhearted freak with the ability to make people angry or calm them down. Chloe smiled. She was happy with the choices. Lyra had always ignored her completely, Graceland was a friend of hers, Mike was obviously her first choice, Trystan usually kept things fair, and Victoria was great at getting people to listen to her.

"Okay, that's it for the old members. Now, anyone who wishes to be a part of the new New Council please step forward," Persephone requested. No one moved. She faked a peppy smile.

"That's okay, we'll just move on to... er... nominations! Yes, that will do. Would anyone like to suggest someone else to be on the new New Council?" she asked. Again, nobody moved. Again, Persephone fake-smiled.

"Hm. Fine. We'll just have a revised old New Council. Maybe that's a good thing. It means we can stop calling it the new New Council, at least. But we do need at least two more members. Hopefully, one freak and one normal. That should balance itself out. And, since we might as well have one more boy and one more girl, I nominate my sister, Chloe Davis! Hands, anyone?" Approximately a fourth of the people raised their hands, and Persephone dropped her fake smile.

"I give up! You people say you want to vote in new members, but no one volunteers or nominates anyone! This meeting is adjourned. We're keeping the same old New Council, Lyra and everyone else included," Persephone announced, and stormed off, leaving the town in another uproar.

Chloe made her way over to Mike and Graceland, murmuring 'excuse me' and random intervals. At last, she reached them.

"What should we do?" she groaned. "Persephone's not going to change her mind now! It'd damage her pride too much." They shrugged. Graceland pointed to the angry mob that the crowd had become. It was difficult to hear anything but screaming. Mike looked like he was going to throw up.

"I don't know. Say something. Inspire them," he suggested. Chloe cowered.

"No! I'm not a good inspirational speaker. I hate being listened to in public. I hate it!" she protested, but Graceland pushed her forward regardless.

"You can do it. Just pretend they're all angry cows or something. Come on, believe in yourself," Gracie said with a smile. The other girl froze and prepared to speak.

"Um... hi, people. Look, I hate talking out loud to a big group of people, so I'm just going to get to the point, okay? Everything sucks. It does. it really does. First the FAYZ, then Caine and the big fire and everything else, then Sam left, and now this. It's not fun." People began to shut up a little bit. This encouraged her to continue. "Okay, well, I just want to say that... we're here. This is our life now. We've accepted it, we've moved on, and now we need to try to survive. What we have now? Chaos. THIS ISN'T WORKING. Councils aren't going to help if you guys don't elect them. Public meetings are better, but they can cause a lot of drama. We need people on the New Council. We do. We need YOU. So who wants to be on the New Council?" she asked, almost begging. The crowd had settled, but only one person stepped forward. It was a boy, blonde hair, brown eyes, about 14. Chloe didn't recognize him at first, but realized after a moment it was a guy named Graham Becker. She'd thought he had blackish hair, and assumed he must have bleached it.

"My name is Graham Becker, I am almost 14 years old, and I am a freak. I can change the color of my hair, eyes, and skin at will. I request to be on the new New Council," he said loudly. Chloe nodded.

"Great. All in favor?" Most of the kids raised their hands. Most of them just didn't want to be forced to be on it themselves. Nobody else stepped forward to volunteer as a Council member, but Chloe was satisfied.

"Cool. That works. Ladies and gentlemen, your new New Council: Mike Paylor, Graceland Hughes, Victoria Lee, Trystan Garcia, and Graham Becker!" she called out with a smile. Maybe public speaking wasn't so bad after you'd gotten started.


	3. Aftermath

Aftermath: It's usually a bad thing when there's a lot of yelling

"_Chloe?"_

_Nothing._

"_Lyra? Hello?"_

_Darkness._

"_Is anyone there? Where am I? What's going on?"_

_Silence._

"_Can you hear me? Say something! Ugh, this isn't funny. You are seriously going to be in pain when I get to you."_

_Suddenly, a slight acid-green glow in the pit of emptiness. Then, a voice. It sent chils down her spine._

"_You can't hurt me, Persephone. I control pain. Teach me to lead others. Coyotes are simple-minded. Teach me how to command a crowd of people. I can make others fear me. I can make them follow me. I can make them think they want to follow me. I cannot make them agree with me of their own accord. Teach me..."_

_Persephone wished she hadn't told the voice to say anything. The silence had been better than this. She wasn't listening to the voice, but she knew what it was saying. Somehow, it was in her mind. It just... existed. She didn't want to teach this anything more about controlling people. _

"_No," she said firmly, pretending she wasn't terrified. She heard a sigh, like a loud breeze inside of her ear._

"_You will, human. You will."_

_Persephone shivered. She thought it had been creepy when the voice had known her name, but it as worse when it implied that she was the only human one._

"PERSEPHONE!" Chloe screamed, blue eyes bulging wide. She bonked her head against a bar on the ceiling, and went to go get ice. Her dream, creepy and unsettling, had seemed more real than she was used to. Something wasn't right... After thinking about it for a while, Chloe decided to fetch Mike and ask him about it, but didn't get the chance.

"Chloe? Are you okay? I heard you scream; what happened?" Mike asked from outside, knocking on the door. Chloe had taken up residence next door to the old house he had hidden in before when he was dehydrated. As Mike had said he'd heard her, Chloe figured her scream had been louder than she'd originally thought. She walked over and opened the door with a troubled expression. His face lit up with concern.

"What happened, Chloe?" he questioned again.

"Hey, Mike," she said drowsily, welcoming him inside. "I'm fine, don't worry. But I don't know about Persephone. I had a dream that the darkness-Gaiaphage-thing got her, and I'm kind of worried it might be true."

Mike frowned. "Didn't you scream something about needing help?"

Chloe shook her head, stray pieces of her tangled curly hair falling into her face. She pulled them back and put her hair in a ponytail, tugging her loose blue-and-pink striped cardigan more tightly over her shoulders. "No. Was that what you heard?"

Nodding, he sauntered over to the door and opened it. "Yep. Well then, shall we go find whoever DID say that? They'd have to be around here, right?"

"I guess so. Feeling brave all of a sudden?" Chloe teased. They walked out the door, yelling at the world, and asking if anyone needed help. Eventually, Mike doubled over laughing.

"This is ineffective. Come on, be serious. Somebody could be hurt," Chloe complained. Mike nodded, sighing, and pointed to the direction he had heard the scream from.

"This way."

After a few minutes, the two came upon a cardboard box. He didn't want to open it, but Chloe rolled her eyes and kicked it over. Suddenly, she gasped and stumbled backwards. It wasn't Persephone. It wasn't even Sam or Caine or Lana or Astrid or anyone well-known in the FAYZ.

It was Graceland.


	4. What Goes Around

What Goes Around: It doesn't always come around

The only thing Mike could think of when he saw Chloe stagger away from Graceland's mutilated body was _Crap. This isn't going to end well. _He felt bad for not worrying if Gracie was dead, but his natural appalled reaction to inhumane events were somewhat dulled by the existence of the FAYZ.

"Chlo-Chloe?" Mike managed to whisper, his voice weak and raw. She wasn't moving. He tapped her on the arm, but to no avail. Even shaking her gently by the shoulders got no response. "Hello? Chloe? Can you hear me? We've got to get Graceland to... well, Lana's gone... I doubt Dahra will be much help. You think maybe-"

"I know someone. Grab her and follow me," Chloe interrupted, finally moving her limbs and scampering off towards an alley. Mike sighed, grabbed Graceland by the armpits, shifted her into an upright position, and lugged her upwards. He carried her bridal-style after Chloe, who had paused.

"Hurry!" she ordered, her words sharp-toned and urgent. Clearly, she was serious. Mike loped along as quickly as he could, but couldn't keep up with another body weighing him down. Chloe glared at him impatiently.

"Mikey, come on! I'm being serious. We have to get to Violet now, before Graceland is too far gone," she insisted. Mike stopped, caught his breath for a second, and tilted his head.

"Violet?"

Chloe waved the question away with her hand, indicating that she would explain later, when there was more time. For about 20 minutes, they trekked through alleys and into forested areas, switching off on who had to carry Graceland, although Mike ended up being the pack mule for the bulk of the trip as Chloe was the only one who had any idea where they were going and why. After three painful rolls down hills blanketed in spiky plants, the pair (and, of course, the unconscious and possibly lifeless Graceland) made it to a very large tree. Mike looked at Chloe expectantly, but she just stood there. He grew bored and began to visually explore the area they were in. He didn't recognize it, but, then again, he also didn't visit the forest very often. _There are just too many bugs_, he rationalized, when suddenly a thought struck him.

Mike looked down. The ground was powdered with not only leaves, but suspicious-looking insects, wormy-things, and vertebrae. He shuddered and stood on his toes, but instantly stopped when he realized he'd rather get his shoes dirty then fall due to the unbalanced nature of carrying a teenage girl over your shoulder and standing tip-toed and have a face-full of grub. Mike resisted the urge to scream like a small child and looked upwards, mentally comforting himself. _There are no bugs here, no bugs at all. Just clouds. Clouds and beautiful leafy trees. No leaf-bugs. Just... sunshine. And green stuff. All green and brown, as far as the eye can see. That's all. NO BUGS. Do you hear me, Mike? No bugs. Okay?_

It took him about 30 seconds to realize that Chloe was not the only girl staring at him like he was insane and waiting to notice what was happening. Mike raised his eyes to the pair. One had curly dirty blonde hair, fair skin, freckles, greenish eyes. That was Chloe, he was sure of it. The other was very pale, with wavy layered black hair that cut off neatly a few inches above her waist and deep blue eyes. This one was unfamiliar.

"Oh, um... hi," he mumbled, feeling incredibly awkward. The girl raised an eyebrow.

"Not a fan of bugs?" she guessed. Mike shook his head. Much to his surprised, she grinned.

"Understandable. Neither am I. I especially hate the mutated ones that keep popping up everywhere." She shook her head, disgusted with the prospect, and continued. "Chloe here, however, has the whole animal thing going on, and apparently bugs fall into that category, though, so she doesn't get it. It just irks me that they can be anywhere and you'd never even know..." The girl, who Mike presumed was 'Violet,' trailed off. He agreed, though, and nodded silently to express this in a calm and orderly fashion, but his mind was frantic, racked with furious fretting. _How does Chloe know her? Who is she? Why are we bringing Gracie here? Is she a doctor? Am I missing something here? WHAT IS GOING ON?_

"Who is injured here?" Violet demanded half-heartedly, sounding slightly bored, but also like she felt sorry for Graceland, who was still being carried by Mike and was obviously the hurt one. She widened her already wide eyes and lowered her head at the sight, mouthing 'never-mind.'

"Vi, you know I wouldn't come to you if it wasn't serious. You said to pay you a visit if I ever needed help with healing and I wanted to keep it a secret. Well, it's not a secret, but, well, I mean, Lana's gone, after all, and we don't know what happened to Graceland. We found her like this, under a box. I... I didn't think there'd be anything under it, but... there was. This is Mike, by the way. Mike, Violet, Violet, Mike," Chloe explained as the two shook hands, feeling bad for wasting Gracie's precious time. _Sorry, Gray. It's not fair! You haven't done anything wrong. What is it with all the unfair karma in this town, anyway?_

"Violet lives here, in the forest, because of her ability, but she while she loves the trees, she doesn't like the idea of her house being cursed with an insect epidemic, so... well, you'll see. But I warn you," Chloe added after a moment's thought, "she doesn't live alone." Mike looked confused.

"What?"

"Look, let's just say that, erm, Sam, Lana, and Caine aren't the only powerful freaks out there, okay? So prepare yourself..."

Violet laughed, and waved her arm in front of the tree. It flickered for a moment, then flashed out of sight. They had reached the edge of the forest. In fact, the trees were about 15 steps away. Mike gasped, gaping at Violet's knowing smile. _Is this normal for her? Or- oh, it's probably someone with powers doing this, stupid. Illusions and whatnot, right?_

"So you've figured it out, then," said a weedy but handsome boy with an unpleasant expression on his face. He had dark skin, dusky brown hair, and bright golden-hazel eyes, which were glaring at Mike and Chloe. Mostly Mike. Accompanying him were a short, pretty girl with straight ginger hair to her mid-back, eyelash-length bangs/fringe, and blue-gray eyes who was holding a cat, a chubby, unattractive little boy with curly brown hair and tawny eyes, a cute little blonde girl with her hair in braids who had beautiful blue-green eyes that looked similar to the ocean on a sunny day, a tall brunette girl in a protective stance who was obviously not only older than the rest, but also the sister of the little girl with the bright-colored eyes, as her own eyes were a similar color and her facial shape was almost exactly the same, and an adorable young Jamaican boy with curly tan-colored hair, brown skin, and dark eyes who was hiding behind the red-headed girl. The cat looked at Mike as well, sniffed disapprovingly, and turned to Chloe, who had bowed her head and narrowed her eyes. The cat did the same, and she smiled.

"Well?" the boy asked, "Have you?"

Mike nodded. "You all live here together, right? With different abilities? Someone must have a cloaking power... what are your names? Who are you?"

The clump of children separated into a line, Violet and the boy who had spoken included. Chloe joined them with a worried expression on her face. Mike noticed he had forgotten about a teenaged brother and sister in the back who looked like they were probably of East-Asian decent. They weren't really noticeable, which was probably on purpose.

"I'll start this whole introduction thing off, okay Mike? My name is Chloe Davis, as you know. I'm about fourteen years old, and a two-bar freak. My sister Persephone and I used to live here, with them, until one day, she decided she wanted to be somewhere she could be with people who were the same as her. Normals. I came with her, you remember, and we told everyone we were from Coates, but only because our parents didn't have time for us. The truth is... the FAYZ wall blocked it off, but we all used to go to school in an area not too far from here. Okay, well, you know, maybe further than I'm conveying, but most of us either couldn't apply to Perdido's school for personal reasons, or they actually lived over there. Whatever the reason, there was a school-wide meeting here in Perdido Beach when everyone over 15 just... vanished. It was insane. The kids who were the most afraid of Caine, though, when he came over, grouped together, and eventually realized that they were only scared of Caine because they didn't want to turn out like him. We're all freaks. I'll let everyone introduce themselves, but, basically, we stuck together, and we didn't want a part in the drama you guys had, but... Graceland needs Violet's help."

All Mike could think to say was, "Wow. I thought you hated making speeches." He had almost forgotten about Graceland in his astonishment over everything that had happened. Chloe smiled at his words, shrugged, and pointed to Violet, who stuffed her porcelain fingers in the pockets of her jeans and re-introduced herself, this time with more information.

"Hi, I'm Violet, as I said before, and I'm pretty much the same age as Chloe. We grew up best friends. Sorry, beside the point. Anyway, I'm a three-bar freak, and I basically remember... well, almost everything I've ever been told in past lives about plants. I can't control them, but I can tell you every part of every leaf and what sound it makes when you step on the stick of an Oak tree versus an Ash. Not animals, though, just plants, which is why I might be able to help your friend. Many plants have great medicinal properties, as well as poison, but that doesn't matter. Moving on," she finished, and gestured to the boy who had spoken before. He sighed.

"All right, let's get this over with. I'm Fletcher, 16, already passed on stepping out, thank you very much, and, surprise, surprise, I'm a freak. I don't know what bar reading because I've never met this Diana chick, but I can hide places from being seen. I don't make images in your brain and pretend that they're what going on, but I take your recent memories of a surrounding area and put them on loop. You could walk off a cliff into the ocean still thinking you were in the desert. This place is on an automatic loop. You can't see it if you're not with one of us," he said, not pointing to the next person, but plopping down on the floor. _Putting up an infinite hide-away loop must be pretty difficult. _Mike thought privately. _He's probably an okay guy when he's not exhausted, but this... Fletcher must be going insane. These people are amazing._

The ginger-haired girl stepped forward of her own accord with half a smile and began to make her own speech.

"Hey, I'm Janie, 14, love cats, and I'm a long-time friend of Chloe's. She, Violet and I used to hang out every day together. Then, you know, the weirdness happened. I don't like to call it the FAYZ, I'd rather stay away from Perdido Beach and all the violence, but I have met Diana, because I did actually go to Cotes Academy once. I was going to see my boyfriend last year, who had gotten in trouble with his abusive step-father and been sent up there, when she came up and grabbed my hand. She muttered 'two and a half' and stormed off with that evil-looking guy. We ended up taking him home that day after we found out his step-father had died in a car crash, but whatever. We broke up a week later. It's all good. Anyway, like I said, two-and-a-half bar freak, Janie Westbrook, 14, and, by the way, I can bring somebody back to life for about a month if they've died within ten seconds of my arrival because of somebody else. So don't worry, if that girl dies before Violet's done helping her and she was murdered, she can have another chance!" she ranted, speaking almost all in one breath and stroking the cat on the bridge of its nose. Mike nodded, shocked into silence. He didn't know if he had heard everything Janie had said, but he got the point. She sat down happily on the ground, pushed the chubby boy forward, and started braiding her hair, making it evident that she was the one who had styled the little blonde girl's hair as well.

"Hello. My name is Chester, and I am 8. I don't know what bar I am, but I can melt rocks. Only rocks. It's nice to meet you, Mike," he summarized, making the older boy thankful he hadn't recited his entire life story. Graceland was still possibly dying, and she was getting heavy. The next to approach him was the small female blonde child with the shimmering eyes.

"Hi!" she chirped with a smile, revealing one missing tooth. Mike almost couldn't stop himself from cooing over her. She was just plain cute.

"My name is Anais Reynolds, or Annie. Either way is fine, but most people call me Annie anyway. I've never met the girl with the bar-telling power, but I can convince people to do what I want if I look into their eyes and am holding hands with them. Only if they trust me, though, and it won't kill them emotionally or physically to do whatever it his. HI!" she said again, and fiddled with the ringlet at the end of her braid, after the purple ribbon that Janie had tied a bit earlier than need be.

"My name is Susie Reynolds. I'm Annie's big sister. I'm a lot like Persephone, actually. I naturally intimidate people. That's my power, I mean. I only have to lift a finger, and your primal fight-or-flight reflex kicks in. Usually, people flee. Don't cross me, don't cross my friends, and definitely don't cross Annie, or I_ will_ find you," said the girl with the straight brown hair, who had blue-green-gray eyes and looked a lot like cute little Anais. Mike nodded, chanting,

"Hurting little girls is bad. What goes around comes around. Revenge. Got it. I'll keep that in mind." It wasn't a lie. Susie scared him. The Jamaican child waddled up with big, calf-brown eyes. He looked up at Mike, but didn't speak. Instead, he poked Mike in the knee, and Mike began to grow. He was almost 2 feet taller by the time the kid poked him again and he deflated. Janie smiled at the child and beckoned him over to her. He hid behind her again.

"His name's Ian. He's pretty shy. Oh, and the cat's mine. Well, I should say that the cat owns me, but whatever," Janie paused to smile. "His name is Fruit Tart, or Fruity, and he actually had a whole family running around somewhere: Praline, the mother, Chocolate, or Choco-Loco, the dark brown tabby kitten, Vanilla, or Nill-Nill, the white one, Strawberries and Cream, or Berry, the cream and ginger tabby, and Caramel, the light brown tabby with the white patches. We sometimes call her Mellie. Chocolate and Caramel are the girls, mollies, same thing. Berry and Vanilla are toms, though. And in the back of the room, you can see there are two children who don't wish to join us. That would be... well, they haven't told us their names. But they came to our school the day before the whole thingee happened because they're parents were on a business trip here for the school, and he said they were from Japan, but are fluent in English. They're mostly just shy, as well. They're pretty quiet. I like to call her," Janie stopped talking for once and pointed to the girl, "Koneko, because I call every newcomer something to do with cats and Ian didn't know talk to anyone then so I called him Kitty, and she was Kitten. Eventually she told me Koneko meant kitten, so I call her that now. Neko means cat, I think, so that's what I call him. Like I said, I love cats. You would have been 'Bengal' or 'Whiskers' or something if you hadn't said you were 'Mike,'" she rambled on.

Violet nudged her softly on the arm after a few minutes, though, and she ceased her endless chatter. As annoying as she seemed, it became evident to Mike that this girl was really good as helping people open up. She was genuinely friendly. He almost jumped when Chloe spoke up. It seemed like Perdido Beach was a whole different universe than here, including her.

"So, Vi, do you think you can heal Gracie? She's really sweet. A lot like Janie, but... more toned down," Chloe said, her voice quiet, but her tone pleading. Violet nodded.

"Bring her over here. I'll do my best."


	5. The Healing Process

THE HEALING PROCESS: Work with what you have available to you

It was not long before the girl they had called Graceland opened her eyes.

Apparently, she hadn't been dying. Just unconscious. Violet had waved a stem of lavender under her nose and some other strong-smelling plants that Janie didn't recognize, and voila! She's alive! Janie didn't know the girl, but she was happy. Mike and Chloe seemed nice enough, so why shouldn't Graceland be?

"She's waking up, but she has quite a few bruises and minor scrapes. Did she get those on the way here?" Violet asked the newcomers, who shook their heads. Mike spoke up.

"No. She had those already. I figured she probably got in a fight or something. I heard someone scream..." he trailed off. Violet shrugged.

"Not a problem. Your friend Graceland should be fine. Chloe, can you and Mike go get me some calendula? You've seen it before, right? You should try and get the birds and such to help you; they'll know where it is. Hurry, she's going to be in some pain."

Chloe nodded and dragged Mike off with her. They trekked into the forest, and I watched as she called a bird down and appeared to have a conversation with it, then disappeared through the trees. Janie's mind began to wander, and it ended up somewhat like her conversations with other people. _How does Chloe know what calendula is? I mean, the word sounds vaguely familiar, but- OH! That's the stuff Vi used on Brian after his step-dad beat him up the first time, isn't it? Why DID I dump him, again? Was he the one who cheated on me? No, no, that was Brindle. Ugh, I hated Brindle. I don't even know why I ever dated him. No, but seriously, why did I dump him? Or... did he dump me? Oh, yes, that's right, he didn't want me to ruin my life looking after him. Poor guy. I wonder if he's in the FAYZ. I had heard he went back to Coates afterwards... maybe he went to the meeting. God, I feel horrible. How could I forget that? Bad Janie, bad, bad Janie!_

"We found it!" Chloe yelled triumphantly, stepping out of the loop and closer to Graceland, Mike loping along behind her. _He's acting like a puppy, just following her around like that. I wonder if they're- no, no, she would have told me. Plus, I would totally be able to tell if those two were going out. I kind of doubt they are... _Janie guessed, butViolet's voice snapped her out of random thoughts.

"Great. Give me some of the petals, please, as many as possible. Hey, kid, can you go melt a rock?" she said suddenly, and tossed over an average-sized stone. It was soon boiling hot, and Chester tossed her a water thermos. Violet carefully dropped the calendula petals in the water and held the bottle over the boiling hot stone, which was increasing in temperature by the second. After a little while, she had a thermos half-full of calendula tea, which she let cool for a moment and then poured a little over the worst Graceland's injuries.

By the time she was done, the water was almost gone. Violet handed it back to Chester, who stored the remaining tea in a cabinet, and the small crowd cheered as Graceland shakily got to her feet. Janie knew that the fact that Graceland felt like she had been healed was a lot more important than the fact that the wounds hadn't actually had that much of an impact on her health, and neither had the flower petal tea. _It's the thought the counts, though, psychologically, and sometimes you just have to make do with a couple of petals and some boiling water. _Janie thought, and smiled.


End file.
